The 39 Steps

An introduction to the career of Alfred Hitchcock.

This film sets up the formula for the traditional movie from the mind of Hitchcock. Made in 1935, this work was made in England before Hitchcock's move to the United States. The themes of class, uncertainty, and paranoia are all evident.

Class shown by the influence, and homes of the rich characters. For not these elements of class, our antagonist and his lovely female companion would not have been in such a situation.

Uncertainty, from an empire in the midst of decolonization. From the memories of World War I, and the possibility of World War II. Also, an uncertainty of a society trying to find its motion picture identity. Britain is a country stuck in between the blockbusters of Hollywood, and the Art House films of the European continent.

Paranoia can be found in the elements of the fear of a Second World War. Paranoia of the outsider, and in the case of this film, sometimes the insider.

In a way The 39 Steps is a movie ahead of its time. This movie can be seen thirty or even seventy years later and theses same three themes can be applied to the fears and attentions of that time. For example the Cold War and the War on Terror.

A nice pairing for this film if the Edmund Fitzgerald from Goose Island.